Surviving The Fourth Calamity

”What do you mean?” The Apocalyptic Boss kind of short-circuited at this point; he needed a clearer explanation. ”Can we please not play the ’subtle wording’ game right now?

With things like this already, what kind of impact could possibly make me feel worse?”

”The Night Butterfly picked it herself and went to court it on its own, because the other side is already Level 25, and it’s obviously got a strong Life Force.” ’Lu Huayu’ gave up struggling, glanced at the huge Ambori in front of them—who’d actually understood everything yet, even with Divine Beings’ islands right under her nose, still forgot to grab them—and caught that rare complicated expression on her face. ”Ah, dear Ambori, you heard right: that Undead Tribe acquaintance of ours, the Night Butterfly he brought along, mated with one of your Toril specialties—a Level 25 Maggot Mage.

Just now, right in front of the Lord of Hell, Gaia, Set, and Rose, it gave birth to hundreds of thousands of little maggots, and they’re already rapidly breeding the next generation.

The Proud Sky Alliance’s Desert stronghold battle? This time they’ve been completely wiped out by that person we know.

Mm... I don’t think Ink Brush can hold on; people on the Black and White Path are already starting to die off in large numbers.

Ah... Zhu Meili’s calculation ability is seriously insane—how did he manage, with no one noticing, to only start cleaning up his opponents after at least half the Beastmen were dead?”

If the Black and White Path keeps killing like this, they won’t even need to worry about retreating themselves...”

Ambori, however, knew her friend very well and didn’t let him get away with his evasions. ”So, it really is your friend?

He’s not coming to the seaside, is he?

I feel like, even for your sake, I can’t accept seeing him anywhere near my Divine Realm... let him stay in that Desert forever!”

”I... how should I put it?” ’Lu Huayu’ weighed his tone. ”My relationship with him is like yours with Olypher, so he usually won’t come looking for me unless it’s something big.

But if it really becomes necessary, Ambori, you can understand that, right?

If it’s not about life and death, then it’s about profit. Sometimes, no matter how disgusting a collaborator is, as long as they can bring you benefits, you just have to grit your teeth and put up with it a bit.”

”Ah... then that should be Marla.” Ambori declared.

”No... only if it’s Olypher would you tolerate her occasional stupidity, no?” ’Lu Huayu’ looked at Ambori, a bit unable to picture it. ”With someone like Marla, what’s the point of cooperating? Killing him first is the normal reaction, isn’t it?”

”Nope... Olypher wouldn’t do that kind of thing.” Ambori knew that former somewhat-passable friend of hers quite well. ”She used to be pretty crazy, back when she was a Great Fairy.

After her heart cracked, even if she has emotional fluctuations, I’d guess the max is about 10 degrees, so she wouldn’t do something this... revolting.

But Marla would.”

”No... I don’t think you understood what I meant.” ’Lu Huayu’ said with some hesitation.

”It’s basically the same.” The Apocalyptic Boss spoke up, his expression complicated. ”You two really are in sync.”

Who cares which one it is!

Even Celene wouldn’t get a pass, okay?

He’d blow up the AO servers over this!

Choosing death before dishonor is what a normal person should do!

And these two are already discussing what kind of ally would do something like this and still be acceptable to work with!

He’d known for ages that his Chief Steward’s three views were... off, but it’s not like he hired him as a life partner. As long as he doesn’t break the law, abides by contracts and promises, and remains a cautious, dutiful subordinate, that’s good enough... the main thing is his competence.

Yet the Apocalyptic Boss still felt a massive shock at this moment.

In that instant, he finally understood what ’Lu Huayu’ had always stressed to him: the law is the baseline of being a person, social conventions are the code of being a person.

Ah... so apart from the most basic baseline and code, basically everything else is up for grabs?

He slowly tilted his head back and looked at the chaotic-evil Goddess Ambori, who was still discussing with Chief Steward Lu what exactly differentiated her former colleagues... Ah~ This guy ’Lu Huayu’... he’s probably going to end up as one of this world’s permanent NPCs too, huh?

In that previous world, the Goddess of Magic Edna’s relationship with the Old Age Striking King was a bit too intimate... so there were already rumors that the game company had gone to consult that terrifying woman’s opinion.

Even though the phrasing was cautious and bizarre, it was something like: ”Do you consent to handing over your Soul after death to the Goddess of Magic Edna from Toril? She promises to forever protect your Soul’s integrity and purity, and is willing, while she still lives, to provide you with a peaceful and happy life in her Divine Kingdom.”

The letter of intent was pretty long; boiled down, that was more or less what it meant... What was interesting was that it also stated they’d gotten the World Will’s permission.

The Apocalyptic Boss glanced again at the one god and one human chatting over there and calmly realized that, although their line is set very low, they’re not absolutely evil either.

Obviously, neither of them was looking at the giant screen in the middle of the ship... like him, for example, who’d rather watch their own wounded, heavily damaged people out on the sea, even if it was boring.

But no one could bring themselves to shut the big screen off.

The screams coming from it, along with certain people shouting, ”Black and White Path, retreat!”, ”Find your own way out, try not to die!”, ”Move faster, don’t look over there!”, ”Don’t turn around! Don’t turn! Fix your direction and run!”... were just impossible to give up.

Ambori, who’d been listening to Human screams the whole time, even secretly asked ’Lu Huayu’ why it wasn’t Black Rose who’d gone to the Desert.

They’re both ’black’; what’s the difference.

Seriously... speaking of which, the relationship between ’Lu Huayu’ and Black Rose was pretty murky too. Obviously, if given the choice to kill Baldy, Chief Steward Lu would rather keep Snow Old Dog alive... those two even share the same top spot on their ’most hated’ list: the Undead Tribe.

It’s honestly hard not to call that a perfect match.

”Boss, what are you thinking about?

Anything you want to ask?” Feeling his back go numb under that stare, ’Lu Huayu’ couldn’t help turning around and squinting at him.

”No... just spacing out.” He glanced at Ambori, felt his Chief Steward’s warning look, and remembered ’Lu Huayu’s instructions—”Aside from complimenting how good our relationship is, don’t say anything in front of Ambori that speculates about my future with her”—so the Apocalyptic Boss decisively replied.

”Today’s basically done.” ’Lu Huayu’ sighed. ”The Undead Tribe probably can’t keep fighting; even if they don’t watch the tablet, they’ll have to find somewhere to sit and listen.

Let’s withdraw for now.

With that many dead, it’s going to take a while to regroup.

We’ll fight again tomorrow.

Mm... that okay?

My friend, dear Ambori.”

”Of course it’s fine. I also just want to sit here and watch how it ends... those—ah... why do they look so much like flies!”

Unable to hold back, Ambori turned to glance at the giant screen and screamed. ”Why are they all flying!”

”They’re flying bugs. Flying bugs.” ’Lu Huayu’ groaned. ”Aesces is really... it’s definitely going to be super safe over there in the future!”

”A Night Butterfly only needs to mate once to lay eggs for life, but there is a limit, right?” On the other side, ’Snow Cloud Peak’ was seriously asking ’Susu’, who had already curled up under the platform.

Curiosity really is Humanity’s best friend and worst enemy... when the Black and White Path’s screams suddenly went up a few levels, he chose to pull his knees up, hug his head, hide under the platform, and only after enough mental prep did he dare peek... but by then, those creatures with baby-fist-sized bodies, fly-like torsos and heads, but with transparent butterfly wings, were already scattering and flying off. Compared to the initial rolling clump that tumbled out of the eggs together, the damage to his nerves was way lower.

Aesces had even given them a close-up earlier... with his low sensitivity, frayed nerves, and lack of firsthand experience with a Worm Mage, it hadn’t affected him at all; he’d even been watching with great interest.

Unfortunately, some people just couldn’t resist the urge to look up, like Miss ’Susu’.

In all the years ’Snow Cloud Peak’ had known her, it was the first time he’d seen her move that fast!

”Let me catch my breath, Old Dog.” ’Susu’ spoke slowly. ”Even if... it were somewhere else, you know!

It still wouldn’t be such a huge shock.

But it had to be... yellow sand. Zhu Meili apparently used tons of Water Magic to help them hatch, and the cocoons they made were all... turquoise, and mixed into that wet, soggy sand.

Ah... it’s so gross!”

”Do you want me to vomit with you that badly?” ’Snow Cloud Peak’ asked in utter seriousness. ”Unfortunately, my imagination isn’t that vivid.”

”Someone must’ve recorded the screen, right?” ’Susu’ completely ignored the ”do you want to” part and just threw out another topic. ”Zhu Meili...”

”Definitely used to live in the sewers!” ’Snow Cloud Peak’ said, firm as a judge. ”So he’ll absolutely record it.

If it were me, I’d do the same. We’ve already gone this far... what’s left that we still can’t do?”